Repayment
by Mikauzoran
Summary: Haibara gets a chance to repay her debt to Kid and ends up discovering that she and the thief have more in common than she'd realized. Done for Poirot Cafe SSC #12: Crash.


Mikau: Hi guys! Sorry I've been super irregular so far this year. -.-; I've been given increasing responsibilities at work, and I've been really prioritizing my workouts, so writing just hasn't been happening regularly. I'm a lot less miserable now, though, if it's any consolation. ^.^; Anyway, I did this short piece for Poirot Café's Super Short Contest: Crash. I hope you enjoy it! Voting is June fifth (2016) through June eleventh.

Disclaimer: If I owned it, there would be more Kid and Haibara interaction. I think they'd be really interesting together. Maybe I should write more of these two. Yes? No?

…

Repayment

In retrospect, she probably did it because he looked like an abandoned kitten—animals had always been Haibara's weakness—caught in the rain as he lay sprawled and twisted in his mantle, polka-dotted with crimson flecks of blood.

It was just a graze, but the landing had been brutal. She'd seen it—his normally graceful, ethereal form colliding with unforgiving stone.

The bullet missed its lethal mark, but it still caused the thief to lose control. The glider pitched, clipping the side of the building and sending the elusive phantom spiraling to earth.

Kid managed it brilliantly, in her opinion, maneuvering so that, instead of crashing into the side of one of countless skyscrapers, he brought himself down—albeit roughly—into an alley off a lonely side street.

No one would find him. Kid was safe.

Except…no one would find him. And he was undoubtably injured.

No one knew where he was. No one could help.

…Except…Haibara who had watched it all unfold from her perch on the observation deck.

A heavy sense of responsibility clung to her like sheets on a sticky summer night.

But…there was a chance that he was all right...right?

No. There was the initial gunshot wound and a host of broken, if not, bruised, bones. And it was unlikely after such a crash that the thief was still conscious.

He needed help, and she was, quite possibly, the only one able to provide it.

It didn't matter whether she wanted to.

Because he had saved her life.

She slipped away from the others, racing as fast as her ten year-old legs could carry her in the direction the thief fell.

She'd gone out of duty, but when she saw his crumpled body collapsed under the shattered glider, broken on the pavement as the misty rain enveloped him, her heart ached.

She couldn't abandon him. He _needed_ her…. Someone needed her.

So Haibara hesitantly inched forward, holding her breath as she checked for signs of life, breathing out slowly as she took stock of his injuries.

Not bad, all things considered, but still more than she was qualified to treat. She'd studied medicine during her time with the Organization, but...the focus of her studies had been more about harm than healing

Kid needed a real doctor.

She couldn't be sure that his ribs weren't broken, that there wasn't internal hemorrhaging, that he hadn't suffered catastrophic head trauma….Well…if she were being honest, she'd have to admit that she probably could manage all of the above, but...she lacked the confidence to take matters into her own hands. Because what if she made a mistake? He could die—another life on her head, another bloody stain on her hands. She couldn't bear the responsibility. He was going to the hospital where a real doctor would help him.

Only Kid wouldn't thank her for it. He'd be arrested upon admittance, and the people who'd shot him in the first place would get him. Maybe soon, while he was still hospitalized, maybe later, taking their time after they learned his real name. Either way, he'd be dead, and it would be her fault.

She could do nothing, let him die on the pavement, or she could take him to the hospital and leave him vulnerable for his enemies…. Then there was the third option, but she was afraid she couldn't do it. He might still die despite her best efforts. But at least then she would know she had done everything she could.

That was what Kudo-kun would do.

Haibara took a deep breath and pulled out her cellphone.

"Hakase? Hypothetically speaking, would you help me aid and abet a felon?"

After some brief clarifications concerning where she was and what type of aid the hypothetical criminal required, Agasa told her he'd be there in five minutes.

Kid had regained consciousness during her sixty-second phone conversation.

He was gazing at her almost disinterestedly through drained, half-lidded eyes, like an aging cat, too tired to be bothered.

Haibara stared back, arrested by his gaze, not knowing what to do or say.

He spoke first: "It's you," he noted. "From the train."

She nodded.

He closed his eyes as if he were giving up, didn't care.

"I'm here to help," she whispered, feeling foolish. After all, what did she expect to do for him?

"At least...help is on the way," she added. "Don't worry." But she still felt stupid.

His eyes snapped open once more, but this time they were vibrant, full of alarm. "No hospital!" he hissed, in a panic until the frenzied state started to disagree with his bruised (broken?) ribs.

"No hospital," she repeated in what she hoped was a reassuring tone.

Kid grunted, letting his eyes slide closed once more.

There was silence until the Beetle pulled up and the Professor as well as Okiya Subaru stepped out.

"Don't worry," the grad student assured (the pale, startled look on Haibara's face upon his arrival was prompting enough to warrant reassurances). "I can keep a secret."

Agasa apologized sheepishly, "I knew we wouldn't be able to lift him ourselves."

He had a point. Haibara wasn't sure exactly what she had been planning to do once the elderly scientist arrived.

They carefully loaded Kid into the backseat, head resting on Haibara's lap.

Agasa-hakase drove slowly, but not slow enough to attract the attentions of a traffic cop.

Kid faded in and out of consciousness, resigned to his fate.

"Is there anyone I can call?" Haibara offered, wondering what he usually did. Surely he didn't tend his wounds all on his own. "Anyone you need to talk to or anyone who could help?"

He smiled sadly up at her, something broken, empty in the expression. But she understands because she knows that darkness behind his smile…intimately.

"My father," he laughs softly, mockingly.

Later, once Kid became "Kaito", he confessed that his father was dead...supposed to be dead...but probably just a deadbeat bastard. So the lonely, rueful laugh was justified.

She struggled to tell him that her whole family was gone...probably. At least her sister was, and she really wondered why _she_ was still around.

Haibara caught sight of his face in the moonlight; he resembled Kudo-kun. Her heart clenched.

Kid drifted off, a mix of apathy, self-pity, and exhaustion claiming him once more.

Haibara bit her lip and tentatively weaved her fingers through his hair gently, reassuringly.

"Everything's going to be okay," she whispered, not knowing if it were true.

She could tell from the darkness lurking in his eyes that, like her own, Kid's injuries were more mental, emotional than physical.

The

End

…

Mikau: Well, I hope you enjoyed this little one-shot. I actually wrote it on (dictated it to) my phone on three separate nights while lying in bed, drifting off to sleep. Maybe that offers sufficient explanation for it. ^.^; But I do hope you liked it. I wish I had more opportunity to write Haibara.


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